Technical Suggestions for mounting battery in trunk

AGM batteries can still vent hydrogen gas if they are overcharged. You want to vent any battery.

 

My Honda bike had the battery under the seat in a metal box mounted kinda on the frame.

 

I advised a neighbor Camaro pilot about venting and grounding his trunk mounted 'Ballast Battery'.
He's 'gettin' it all set up'... 'Goin' to Eagle Field to show these old cats something...'
I smiled.

When he defied me about the dedicated ground cable, ("the whole Camaro's a ground...") I asked him how come the wire cable folks don't just run a strip of Camaro and coat it to use for heavy wire.

He bought some 00 cable, and 'ran a ground'. (nautical for 'installed a second cable') Ahoy.

 

My friend who works at a copper mine loves you

 

Mike, you fell for one of the classic blunders, the first being "never get involved in a land war in Asia", the second of which is "never ague with a person with a mullet...about anything!".

 

Thanks, Gents, for all the responses. I should be able to drag it across the finish line from here.

 

FWIW, my recently deer [literally] departed way OT 2010
Cobalt had the battery in the trunk next to the funny spare. No
vents at all.

 

My 98 BMW 528I has the battery in the trunk. Big honkin cable running up to the front and a serious ground cable going to the body. I'm thinking the battery has a vent hose setup built in.
My 2K Cad Dts has the battery under the back seat and it is low profile and vented under the car.
I ran my 51 Merc with the battery in a boat box in the trunk for about five years without and issue. I did have a huge cable running up to the engine though. That boat box came with a tie down strap and two pieces to screw to what ever the battery sits on to run the straps though.

 

Damned refreshing to see the way you posted that, instead of:

"My OT 98 BMW" and "My OT 2K Cad Dts"

I mean really, why do most need to qualify that their '02 XXX is OT?

Okay, stepping down now...

 

I've called that Cad a lot worse than OT lately. thing is a reminder of why I quit working as a mechanic a number of years ago.

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Lol...just a pet peeve Ihave..

i/e..

"My OT 68 Mustang..."

Well, FFS...we know your '68 Mustang, or '68-whatever"...is OT...I mean...why does it have to be quantified?

Okay, I stepped back up...now stepping back down....

 

OT has a different meaning when spoken with an English language [a perfect description of a dead short on a battery cable]

 

I think people are just being deferential to the board. Really when they use the prefix "OT" then XXXX, they are just saying to the moderators; "I'm not creating a thread or post about my OT XXXX, it is just tangentially relevant to this discussion about traditional hot rods and customs, please don't delete the thread or send someone to break my fingers".

Kinda makes sense.

A. @clunker: "I used to have to take the back seat out of our OT 70's Audi to jump start it (true). So maybe if you use the same battery and set up in your '32 Ford's trunk, it will be OK."

B. @clunker: "I used to have this really cool 70's Audi. Had that strong plastic/vinyl old german car smell. It was silver and had more problems than an exotic dancer......"

@oldfart: "this is a website about 'traditional' hot rods and customs. Take that rat rod crap elsewhere"


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My old VW bus had the battery in the trunk right next to the engine. No vents from the factory.
Red top batteries work great for cranking and I use a yellow top to run my MSD ,delay box, transbrake solenoid, and electric fans and fuel pump.
Advance Auto sells some good cable by the foot and you can just put your ends on.

 

Boss 429 Mustangs had a trunk mounted battery. Special vent caps which went through the trunk floor.The positive cable went over the wheel house, through the rocker and up into the kick panel then through the firewall. The ground was just bolted to the trunk floor.

 

Original Max wedge cars that had the battery in the trunk had a vent tube for each cap on the battery running down through the floor.

 

Interesting stuff, good ideas. One non-electrical thing... don't mount your fire extinguisher anywhere near a primary / potential source of a fire, like near the battery or in the engine compartment - it's a lot harder to get at that way! I like my fire extinguisher's close, like under or behind a seat, so I can grab it while I'm bailing! Gary

 

Mine is on the transmission tunnel.

Having it, means I've never had to use it. Strange how that works.

 

My old 1966 A-100 Dodge van had the battery mounted behind the drivers seat,and to my knowledge the battery wasn't vented. HRP

 

i used a boat battery mount for easy access and a battery which has the vents which cadillac and others use to vent.
just modified the caddy vent tubes to fit and vented through the floor

 

I'd like to rephrase my advice above (see reply #6). I've never done it, but I think that if you weld studs to your frame front and back you'll probably never have a problem. When I wrote the above I was thinking that most folks would drill a hole in the frame and use a bolt to attach short cables to go to the battery and engine. In my mind that's where the quality of workmanship would determine whether this works or not. Do it well and no problems. Don't grind/sand down to shiny metal or allow rust to set in down the road and gremlins will undoubtedly set in.

I'm pretty sure that a steel frame has more amp carrying capacity than even the best cables.

 

In the spirit of keeping this discussion precise, the G in AGM stands for GLASS and while I'm splitting hairs, the glass mat battery is absorbent not absorbed.
Carry on.

 

It was a little early for a Christmas post... (no L)

 

See, I'd do as you suggested, but start with shiny metal, and just keep grease on things, doesn't take a lot...and once the road dust covers it all up, just leave it alone until you clean things up again.

 

I have worked on school buses for 25 years and have seen every kind of ground problem you can think of. Positive side of the systems has about as many problems as the ground side. Most buses run 4-0 cable to frame, then from frame to engine and body. Some have welded studs on the frame and others try nuts and bolts through frame holes, each way fails over time.

Best advice I can give is use as few connections as possible with the biggest cable you can afford. Be sure the paint is removed, use star washers, and finish up with a grease coating or some other water proof material.

 

Also remember dielectric grease for reassembly.

Phil